Basic Theory of the Standard E9th Tuning

by Bobby Lee

Sometimes it might seem that there are as many ways of tuning a pedal
steel as there are pedal steel players. But if you strip the personal
touches and enhancements from the guitars of the most players, you'll
find a common denominator of 3 pedals and 3 knee levers. In most
instructional material, the pedals are called A, B and C, and the knee
levers are called D, E and F.

This basic arrangement provides multiple inversions of all of the major and
minor chords, all of the fundamental country and blues licks, and a healthy
assortment of jazz chords. I've been playing for over 20 years, and I'm sure
that there are a lot of positions and licks in the basic 3+3 setup that I
still don't know.

Most steel players don't strum chords, but they understand where the notes of
the chord can be found on their instrument. The close intervals in the
tuning make it necessary to skip strings to get the simple triad harmonies.
For example, the open position includes all the notes of an E major chord on
strings 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10.

Of course, all of these positions can be moved up the neck to get the
desired chord. In most cases, if you accidentally hit the wrong string
you will get a 6th, 7th or 9th chord that extends the chord you were trying
to play.

A long time ago, steel players used pedals to simply change tunings.
They would play a passage in an E tuning, for example, and then press
the pedals to play the next passage in an A tuning. This technique is
still useful in blues and old-timey music, where a more primitive sound
is desired.

Modern pedal steel playing includes the use of pedals while the strings
are sounding and the bar is in motion. For example, the modern player
player may pick strings in the I (no pedals) position, then slide up three
frets, activating the VI (pedal A + knee F) position during the slide for
a smooth transition up to the next inversion of the triad.

Another modern steel technique involves playing complete melodies
using pedals instead of moving the bar. If you look carefully at the
tuning chart, you can see that almost two full octaves of the E major
and A major scales are available at the nut of the guitar. These
scales are of course movable up the neck with the bar.
The scale "licks" available using pedals at the I and IV positions
are a large part of the modern country sound.

I hope this little article has served to demystify the E9th tuning a bit.
It's intimidating at first - all those strings, all those pedals and levers -
but the theory behind it is really fairly simple. Where a guitarist uses
fingers to play notes on different frets, the steel player uses pedals to
bring those notes to the barred fret.

As with any instrument, there's the familiar routine: learn your scales,
learn your chords, Practice! If you're a good guitarist, chances are
you could be a good steel player. It's easier than it looks, and steel
players are always in greater demand than lead guitarists. A word of
caution, though - once you start making "that sound", you may never
look back. This may just be the world's most pleasurable addiction...